Appeals Judges Back Severance Benefits Denial

July 19, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A federal appeals
court has backed a lower court judge in ruling that IBM's
severance plan was within its right to deny benefits to a
participant who repeatedly threatened the plan
administrator.

The US 2
nd
Circuit Court of Appeals said the plan rightfully denied
the benefits request from plaintiff Richard Waksman, citing
the “threatening conduct” exception to granting
benefits.

“Here, it is rational and consistent with the plain
language to interpret ‘threatening conduct’ as
including Waksman’s conduct here,” the appeals
judges wrote. “It is not uncommon in the modern
vernacular to refer to violence against persons, and it
might well be an abuse of discretion to construe
‘threatening conduct’ to include an isolated
exclamation along the lines of ‘I could just kill her!’
Here, however, Waksman was unusually detailed in his
wording, identifying a weapon and a mode of
transport.”

The fact that Waksman may have otherwise had a peaceful
work history was not relevant because in the court’s
opinion it was only important that the participant
“chose to express his frustration by describing a
deadly assault,” the appeals judges wrote.

The judges affirmed an earliler ruling by US District
Judge Stephen Robinson of the US District Court for the
Southern District of New York.